A Damning US Report Lays Bare Amazon’s Worker Injury Crisis

Amazon was hit with an unusually forceful security quotation by federal investigators within the US at present. The findings seem to again up what some staff on the firm have lengthy alleged: that the web retail big’s warehouse and achievement services are designed for pace over security, inflicting lower-back accidents and different musculoskeletal issues at excessive charges.

The quotation launched by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration at present concluded that Amazon was “failing to keep workers safe.” The firm didn’t correctly shield them from hazards more likely to trigger “serious physical harm,” the company claims. Despite years of allegations from staff and state-level investigations into Amazon’s damage charges, at present’s motion introduced the primary federal fines imposed on Amazon for employee musculoskeletal accidents.

“The citations are actually very substantive,” says Debbie Berkowitz, a former senior adviser for OSHA and a employee security fellow at Georgetown University. The investigation was unusually massive for OSHA, and it’s the company’s first to require that Amazon implement primary ergonomic ideas to stop damage, she says. The similar investigation led OSHA in December to quote Amazon for failing to document and report work accidents and sickness.

Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel says the corporate intends to attraction the company’s findings. “We’ve cooperated fully, and the government’s allegations don’t reflect the reality of safety at our sites,” she says. “The vast majority of our employees tell us they feel our workplace is safe.” The federal authorities doesn’t present particular ergonomics steering, and Amazon has invested important money and time in decreasing musculoskeletal threat, Nantel says, citing Amazon information that reveals damage charges falling virtually 15 % between 2019 and 2021.

OSHA’s findings at present echo analysis from a coalition of labor unions based mostly on previous damage information from the company that concluded Amazon’s warehouse damage charges are sometimes a minimum of double that of Walmart, its nearest competitor in dimension and scope. During the 2022 vacation season, warehouse staff described to WIRED their private battles with exhaustion from overwork, wrist accidents, loud noise, and high-speed productiveness expectations. 

The severity of the condemnation within the new federal quotation was not matched by the penalty. If Amazon loses its deliberate attraction, it should pay a proposed effective of $60,269—an insignificant quantity relative to its almost $1 trillion market capitalization.

OSHA fines for very particular, repeated, and drastic violations can enhance to hundreds of thousands of {dollars}. The oil firm BP has confronted a number of fines amounting to over $10 million for spills and refinery accident-related violations. But the cap on fines for the sorts of security violations that may trigger again accidents, fractures, or sprains is far decrease, creating little monetary incentive for firms to alter. “OSHA’s fines have historically been incredibly low, but the company got the highest fines possible, I believe, for every violation cited,” Berkowitz of Georgetown says.